 Sen. James Inhofe, R, Okla., at hearing Thursday |
The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Oklahoma chapter is calling on Sen. James Inhofe, R.-Okla., to meet with Muslim leaders to discuss his statement during a congressional hearing in favor of using religion and ethnicity as factors in profiling airline passengers.
“It is disturbing to hear a member of the United States Senate suggest that entire religious and ethnic groups should automatically be considered terror suspects,” said CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi. “Our nation’s leaders have a duty not to exacerbate the growing anti-Muslim sentiment in American society.”
Inhofe’s spokesman has not replied to a WND request for comment. But advocates of the senator’s position argue correct profiling would not automatically regard a Muslim as a terror suspect. Rather, it would take a passenger’s religion and ethnicity into account among a variety of factors that, together, comprise a terrorist “profile.”
CAIR itself has been designated by the Justice Department as an unindicted terrorist conspirator, and the FBI has cut off its once-close ties with the group. CAIR’s terrorist connections also have been exposed in an undercover probe that obtained internal documents confirming it acts as a front in the U.S. for international Muslim groups working to bring Saudi-style Islamic law to the nation.
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Speaking at a review Thursday of the Fort Hood shootings by the Senate Armed Services Committee, Inhofe said, “I’m, for one – I know it’s not politically correct to say it – I believe in racial and ethnic profiling.”
The senator elaborated that “if you’re looking at people getting on an airplane and you have X amount of resources to get into it, you get at the targets, and not my wife. And I just think it’s something that should be looked into.”
Inhofe said that with few exceptions, such as the 1995 bombing of the Murrah federal office building in his state’s capital, the perpetrators of terrorism are Muslims.
Even in the Murrah case, however, a congressional committee examined strong evidence, based on an investigation by reporter Jayna Davis, that Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh were part of a scheme involving Islamic terrorists.
Inhofe told the Senate panel that when “you hear that not all Middle Easterners or Muslims between the age of 20 and 35 are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims or Middle Easterners between the age of 20 and 35, that’s by and large true.”
See Inhofe deliver his remarks:
CAIR’s Hashmi pointed to a 2003 advisory report by the Department of Justice stating “racial profiling in law enforcement is not merely wrong, but also ineffective.” He also cited a Gallup poll released Thursday that showed more than four in 10 Americans admit to anti-Muslim prejudice.
“By painting all Muslims and Middle Easterners as suspects, Senator Inhofe does a disservice to our nation and to its tradition of racial and religious diversity,” he said.
CAIR representatives such as Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper and Government Affairs Director Corey Saylor have been guests on several cable news shows since the Christmas Day attack in Detroit to challenge calls for using Islam as a factor in profiling at airports.
See Hooper on Fox News Channel’s “O’Reilly Factor”:
Last month, CAIR wrote a letter to President Obama urging him to address what it called an “alarming level of anti-Islam hate in our nation.” As WND reported, an announcement of the letter cited the impact of the WND Books expose “Muslim Mafia” as an example of “hate.” The group said its annual national report on the status of American Muslim civil rights, released in December, showed an increase in bias-related incidents in 2008.
CAIR has claimed since the 9/11 terrorist attacks that Muslims in the U.S. have suffered a sharp rise in anti-Islamic abuse. The group’s 2005 abuse report blamed a purported increase in anti-Muslim harassment, violence and discriminatory treatment on the Internet and talk radio.
But FBI data actually has shown the number of incidents is dramatically shrinking.
The 2006 total of 156, for example, was a 68 percent drop from 2001.
Moreover, incidents against Muslims were just a fraction of overall hate crimes. In 2006, 66 percent of religiously motivated attacks targeted Jews, while just 11 percent were against Muslims, even though the Jewish and Muslim populations are similar in size.
CAIR describes itself as America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, aiming to “enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.”
Among the many findings in “Muslim Mafia,” however – backed by internal documents obtained in the undercover probe – is CAIR’s behind-the-scenes work to mislead and deceive the FBI on behalf of terrorism suspects and its cultivating of Muslim moles inside law enforcement who have tipped off FBI terror targets.
The book, co-authored by P. David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry, asserts CAIR is acting as a front for a conspiracy of the Muslim Brotherhood – the parent of al-Qaida and Hamas – to infiltrate the U.S. The book’s release caused leaders of the bipartisan Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus to call for multiple federal investigations of CAIR. In response, CAIR has sued “Muslim Mafia” co-author P. David Gaubatz and his son Chris Gaubatz who led the daring six-month undercover penetration of CAIR.
IMPORTANT NOTE: WND needs your help in supporting the defense of “Muslim Mafia” co-author P. David Gaubatz and his son Chris against CAIR’s ongoing legal attack. Already, the book’s revelations have led to formal congressional demands for three different federal investigations of CAIR. In the meantime, however, someone has to defend these two courageous investigators who have, at great personal risk, revealed so much about this dangerous group. Although WND has procured the best First Amendment attorneys in the country for their defense, we can’t do it without your help. Please donate to WND’s Legal Defense Fund now. Thank you.
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